Orlando City News Release -- www.orlandocitysoccer.com
Friday, April 29, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando City begins a two-game road trip on Saturday night in New York City, facing off against F.C. New York, the side the Lions defeated in their inaugural USL PRO home opener on April 9th, 3-0. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm at Belson Stadium on the campus of St. John’s University. The match is also F.C. New York’s home opener.
This weekend’s match marks the first time Orlando City is playing an opponent they have already seen this season. With the two matches taking place within three weeks of each other, the advantage favors City, but F.C. New York should not be counted out. As City proved in their first meeting, an inaugural home opening crowd can provide a major boost to a team’s performance.
“[Facing a familiar team] is obviously a help because we know what we’re going into,” said Head Coach Adrian Heath. “It’s their opening home game of the season, which makes things difficult – we know what that’s like, the enthusiasm you play with in your first home match – but we know what to expect. We know that if we play to our maximum, play to our full potential, that we should have enough to get a result.”
Orlando City is looking to respond quickly following a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Puerto Rico United. Despite the result, the Lions are not looking to change much about the makeup of the team just yet.
“Maybe the shape of the team at times on the road we’ll change it,” said Heath. “Slight changes in personnel, maybe, but overall I’m happy with what we have.”
With it being early in the season, City has struggled at times to find consistency. Playing a familiar opponent, particularly one the Lions have had success against, should go a long way in helping Orlando find stable ground to use as a launching pad to success for the rest of the season.
“I still think we are playing at probably 75% of our potential,” said Heath. “I think there’s a lot more to come from this group of players. I am confident that over the next few months we will get where we want to be – top of the league.”
Last week, forward Max Griffin continued his impressive home form, scoring two goals within three minutes at the start of the second half. Griffin scored two goals against F.C. New York in the previous meeting, but he is not expected to be the focus of the Orlando attack. Devorn Jorsling, last season’s leading goal scorer in the Digicel Pro League (Trinidad and Tobago), has yet to register a goal this season. The Lions are actively looking for ways to get him more opportunities and give FC New York two players up front that can cause problems for the defense.
“We didn’t give [Jorsling] enough opportunities,” said Heath. “His opportunities were created by himself. We haven’t really put anything on a plate for him yet, we haven’t opened anything up for him yet. That’s something we’ve been working on. Obviously he’s frustrated at the lack of opportunities, but we have to keep working on situations in and out of the box to give him more opportunities.”
Orlando City projected starting line-up (unofficial):
GK – Miguel Gallardo
RB – Mechack Jerome, CB – Demar Stewart, CB – Rob Valentino, LB – Luke Boden
RM – Jamie Watson, CM – Yordany Alvarez, CM – Lawrence Olum, LM – Lewis Neal
FW – Maxwell Griffin, FW – Devorn Jorsling
Available subs: Sean Kelley, Ian Fuller, Kieron Bernard, Erik Ustruck, Kevin Molino